Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Earth-2791)
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is a 2015 Space Opera Adventure Science-Fiction film directed by Peter Jackson and written by Jackson, George Lucas, and Guillermo del Toro. It stars Russell Crowe, Ewan McGregor, Taron Egerton, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Serkis, and Scott Adkins. It is the first installment in the prequel trilogy of the Star Wars saga that came after the original trilogy in the 80s. The film was followed by three sequels, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones in 2017, Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2018, and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in 2019. The film is set 23 years before the original film, and follows Jedi Knight Rahm Kota and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi as they protect Queen Amidala, in hopes of securing a peaceful end to a large-scale interplanetary trade dispute. Joined by Anakin Skywalker—a young slave with unusually strong natural powers of the Force—they simultaneously contend with the mysterious return of the Sith. Plot Cast *Russell Crowe as Rahm Kota *Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi *Taron Egerton as Anakin Skywalker *Emma Watson as Queen Padmé Amidala *Laurence Fishburne as Mace Windu *Andy Serkis as Yoda (Voice) *Gary Oldman as Senator Sheev Palpatine / Darth Sidious *Scott Adkins as Darth Maul *Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks (Voice) *Anthony Daniels as C-3PO (Voice) *Warwick Davis as R2-D2 *Winona Ryder as Shmi Skywalker *Michael Wincott as Viceroy Nute Gunray *Robin Atkin Downes as Rune Haako *Danny DeVito as Watto (Voice) *Irrfan Khan as Plo Koon *Collin Chou as Ki-Adi-Mundi *Zoe Saldana as Shaak Ti *Florence Kasumba as Aayla Secura *Colin Salmon as Captain Gregar Typho *Keith David as Boss Rugor Nass (Voice) *Reggie Lee as Captain Roos Tarpals (Voice) *James Cosmo as Governor Sio Bibble *David Strathairn as Senator Bail Organa *Shaun Toub as Vice Chair Mas Amedda *Bianca Comparato as Sly Moore *Tom Kenny as Battle Droids (Voice) *Katie Jackson as Tey How *Kath Soucie as TC-14 (Voice) Reception On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 55% based on 213 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Burdened by exposition and populated with stock characters, The Phantom Menace gets the Star Wars prequels off to a bumpy – albeit visually dazzling – start." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 51 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On both sites, it is the lowest-rated film in the Star Wars film series. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. Many aspects of the scripting were criticized, especially that of the character Jar Jar Binks, who was regarded by many members of the older fan community as toyetic—a merchandising opportunity rather than a serious character. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Binks as "a major miscue, a comic-relief character who's frankly not funny." Drew Grant of Salon.com wrote "Perhaps the absolute creative freedom director Peter Jackson enjoyed while dreaming up the flick's 'comic' relief—with no studio execs and not many an independently minded actor involved—is a path to the dark side." Conversely, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "an astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking" and said "Lucas tells a good story." Ebert also wrote that "If some of the characters are less than compelling, perhaps that's inevitable" because it is the opening film in the new trilogy. He concluded his review by saying that rather than Star Trek films, filmmakers could "give me transparent underwater cities and vast hollow senatorial spheres any day." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" grade and complimented Russell Crowe and Ewan McGregor's performance and the action scenes. In an Entertainment Weekly review for the DVD release, Marc Bernardin gave the film a "C-", calling it "haplessly plotted, horribly written, and juvenile". Andrew Johnston of Time Out New York wrote "Let's face it: no film could ever match the expectations some have for The Phantom Menace. Which isn't to say it's a disappointment: on the contrary, it's awesomely entertaining, provided you accept it on its own terms ... Like the original film, it's a Boy's Own adventure yarn with a corny but irresistible spiritual subtext. The effects and production design are stunning, but they always serve the story, not the other way around." Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today said the film did "plenty right" and praised the characters Darth Maul and Watto. David Cornelius of efilmcritic.com said the film's better moments "don't merely balance out the weaker ones—they topple them." Colin Kennedy of Empire magazine said that despite problems with pacing and writing, "there is still much pleasure to be had watching our full-blown Jedi guides in action." He praised the visuals as well as Russell Crowe and Ewan McGregor's performances, and said the duel between Darth Maul and the Jedi was "the saga's very best lightsaber battle". Source *[1] Category:Earth-2791 Category:Movies